What Does it Take to Burn 5 Billion Calories?

We've always known that SparkPeople members are pretty amazing. They're so positive, helpful, and dedicated to reaching their goals. They inspire others with their weight loss successes. And they know how to make healthy living fun and adventurous. But recently, our members accomplished something really BIG.

After years of logging their cardio workouts on SparkPeople.com, our members pushed us over the edge of a big milestone last week: They officially burned over 5 billion calories to date. Now this is no small feat (as you can imagine). It took dedication, a willingness to work out even when life got in the way, and the consistency of tracking each fitness goal and accomplishment. Congratulations to every person who make this possible!

To help you put this into perspective, here's what it takes to burn 5 billion calories:

Spinning (burns 509 calories per hour): It would take a class of 30 people 37 years of nonstop indoor cycling to burn 5 billion calories.

Walking (burns 324 calories per hour): A single person would have to circle the globe 2,479 times to burn 5 billion calories.

Running (burns 720 calories per hour) All 34,729 finishers of the largest marathon on record would have to run 45 marathons to collectively burn this many calories.

Pretty amazing, right? a time in history when sedentary lifestyles and weight problems are on the rise, SparkPeople members are reversing the trends. We're exercising, losing weight, drinking water, and improving our diets one person at a time! As our founder would say, that deserves a big "Woo hoo!"

Toot your own horn! How many calories do you typically burn each week? Whether 10, 100, or 1,000, every bit makes a difference. Tell us below!

You will earn 5SparkPoints

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This year I've been aiming to burn at least 4,000 a week. I've got all kinds of great friends here on SP and, between daily workouts, group challenges and the little personal competitions I have w/ some of my friends on here, I'm really adding fitness minutes as well as calories burned. I'm already at 3,000 fitness minutes for the year!!! 2009 really IS my time to shine!!! No more putting off the things that I can (& should) do today! Thank you so much SP for all that you do!!!
- 2/10/2009 11:45:14 AM

I have not been faithful about the exercise portion of my SP goals. Today, that omission will begin to be dealt with. Soon, I will get back with you to the number of calories I burn daily.
- 1/4/2009 12:34:40 AM

OOPS... I didn't answer the question. At this time, I am not quite sure how many calories I typically burn because I have not been as faithful as I should be. But, this is going to change... right now.
- 12/20/2008 10:07:07 AM

My goal has been to burn 3000 (500 a day, 6 days a week) calories a week. I have done that successfully for almost six months now. The other posters on this blog have inspired me to up that ante - and I'll make it one of my new year goals to increase to an average of 700 a day. Way to go fellow Sparkpeople!!
- 12/18/2008 9:06:19 AM

I'm averaging between 2500-3000 calories a week. Congrats Spark People for all you have given US!!! You have made it possible for so many to achieve so much. I for one greatly appreciate ALL of you and what you do each and every day to give us the tools for real lifestyle change.
- 12/18/2008 6:53:58 AM

On my bike I usually burn between 600 and 700 calories a day. Doing that five days a week, sums up to more than 3000 a week. And that's not counting the calories you burn just by living and breathing, and doing the strenght exercises :)
- 12/17/2008 1:41:07 PM

I love to workout. I do cardio at 0530 and I head to the gym again when I get off work around 1600 and do weight training (3-4 days a week) and cardio again. I usually burn between 3000-4000 calories. I feel great doing it.
- 12/17/2008 12:09:57 PM

For the past 4 weeks, I was burning approx. 7200 cals per week (excl. weight training and abdominals). It is a very high number and that is because I spent that month in a spa and did extra cardio whenever I could. Now I'm back at home and I am 100% certain the number will drop significantly since I don't have the time to go to the gym that long/often.
- 12/17/2008 11:49:16 AM

I found a good link to calculate how many calories you might burn within a given day. These include the daily activities like sleeping, sitting, eating, etc as well as various exercises. It's actually from tooelehealth.org:

Awesome job, everyone! My range is usually between 2,000 and 3,000. I wonder how many people use a HRM rather than relying on the calorie totals on the gym machines. Unfortunately, those machines lie!! LOL.
- 12/17/2008 10:25:25 AM

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